Data Schemas Out in the Wild
Oh WOW! Back in October I talked about possible places to store and search for data schemas. For a quick reminder check out Searching for Data Schemas and Searching for variables within Data Schemas. I think I also stated somewhere or rather sometime, that as we continue to add to the Semantic Engine tools we want to take advantage of processes and resources that already exist – like Borealis, Lunaris, and odesi. In my opinion, by creating data schemas and storing them in these national platforms, we have successfully made our Ontario Agricultural College research data and Research Centre data FAIR.
But, there’s still a little piece to the puzzle that is missing – and that my dear friends is a catalogue. Oh I think I heard my librarian colleagues sigh :). Searching across National platforms is fabulous! It allows users to “stumble” across data that they may not have known existed and this is what we want. But, remember those days when you searched for a book in the library – found the catalogue number – walked up a few flights of stairs or across the room to find the shelf and then your book? Do you remember what else you did when you found that shelf and book? Maybe looked at the titles of the books that were found on the same shelf as the book you sought out? The titles were not the same, they may have contained different words – but the topic was related to the book you wanted. Today, when you perform a search – the results come back with the “word” you searched for. Great! Fabulous! But it doesn’t provide you with the opportunity to browse other related results. How these results are related will depend on how the catalogue was created.
I want to share with you the beginnings of a catalogue or rather catalogues. Now, let’s be clear, when I say catalogue, I am using the following definition: “a complete list of items, typically one in alphabetical or other systematic order.” (from the Oxford English Dictionary). We have started to create 2 catalogues at ADC – one is the Agri-food research centre schema library listing all the data schemas currently available at the Ontario Dairy Research Centre and the Ontario Beef Research Centre and the second is a listing of data schemas being used in a selection of Food from Thought research projects.
As we continue to develop these catalogues, keep an eye out for more study level information and a more complete list of data schemas.
